So Rodriguez sued league Commissioner Bud Selig and even his own union, the Major League Baseball Players Association.

In the lawsuit, Rodriguez's lawyers say the actions against the slugger have been a "carefully orchestrated smear campaign" and the suspension should be vacated.

The lawsuit also alleges that the baseball union did not protect Rodriguez from continual leaks of "prejudicial information" from baseball officials.

The player's union has denied that allegation.

"It is unfortunate that Alex Rodriguez has chosen to sue the Players Association. His claim is completely without merit, and we will aggressively defend ourselves and our members from these baseless charges," said Tony Clark, head of the union.

Aging slugger

All this comes as the clock is ticking for A-Rod. The suspension will not only cost Rodriguez $25 million in salary, it also further clouds the groundbreaking career of a player who'll turn 40 in the 2015 season.

Major League Baseball says Rodriguez is dirty. It says he used three different performance-enhancing drugs in a three-year period and had ties to the now-shuttered Biogenesis clinic in South Florida.

Biogenesis was an anti-aging clinic that MLB said supplied steroids to at least a dozen baseball players.

Rodriguez, fifth on MLB's list of all-time home run leaders, says he didn't use performance-enhancing drugs at that time. He says he has not failed a drug test.

In court documents, his lawyers accused Horowitz of being unfair.

"Horowitz exhibited a manifest disregard for the law," the lawsuit alleged. "He did so in a way which ensured such testimony would be selective and one-sided."

Gummies and food

The Horowitz report seemed to be mostly based on Rodriguez's relationship with Anthony Bosch, who ran the Biogenesis clinic. The two were introduced by Rodriguez's cousin in 2009 or 2010, according to the report.

By late 2010, Rodriguez was a client of Bosch, paying thousands of dollars for banned substances, the report says.

The two became close. They created their own language to camouflage the performance-enhancing drugs. Testosterone cream was called "pink food," and lozenges containing testosterone were called "gummies."

Melted testosterone was called "liquid soup." In 2012, the pair spoke on the phone 53 times and exchanged 556 text messages, the report said.

In one exchange, detailed in the report, Bosch messaged Rodriguez, saying he was going to pick up his "meds." Rodriguez wrote back: "Not meds, dude. Food."